Stuffed chicken breasts, filled with spinach, mozzarella cheese and sun-dried tomatoes are lightly seared, then baked, in this easy dish!
Today I am happy to share and recommend a unique and delicious recipe I found on Pinterest for stuffed chicken breasts. YUM.
How can you go wrong with Italian seasoned, pan-seared (then baked) chicken breasts, stuffed full of fresh baby spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, AND ooey, gooey mozzarella cheese? I mean, really… how could this NOT taste good? Here’s how to make them.
Scroll Down For A Printable Recipe Card At The Bottom Of The Page
How To Make Stuffed Chicken Breasts
The first thing you will need to do is mix up the Italian “dressing” in a small bowl. This will only take a minute or less.
This is what it will look like once combined… it’s a bit thicker than a normal dressing or sauce.
Prepare The Chicken Breasts For Stuffing
Carefully cut a “pocket” into each of the chicken breasts. Slice deep into each chicken breast (horizontally), but DO NOT cut all the way through the chicken breast! After cutting, they should be able to open almost all the way (like this, shown below).
Cover the chicken breasts inside and out with the Italian “dressing”. A pastry brush works well for this.
Creating The Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Stuff one half of each chicken breast with thinly sliced sun-dried tomatoes (oil-packed). I was lucky to be able to use the sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil that I grew in our garden, dehydrated, then packed in oil last Fall! You can find jars of sun-dried tomatoes (oil-packed) in most grocery stores nowadays.
Place the slices of mozzarella cheese on top of the tomatoes.
Top the mozzarella slices with a handful of fresh baby spinach leaves. Whoo Hoo… they’re almost done now!
Seal Up Then Brown The Chicken
Now close the chicken breasts up, stuffing as much as you can into each piece. Secure the chicken breast, top to bottom, with several toothpicks to hold it all together. I used 3 toothpicks for each one, putting them in at a diagonal.
Heat olive oil in an OVENPROOF skillet until really hot. Carefully add the stuffed chicken breasts and cook for 2-3 minutes per side, until each side is seared golden brown in color.
Oven Time!
After browning both sides of the stuffed chicken breasts, place the skillet (and chicken) into a preheated 350 degree oven. Cook the chicken for 15-18 minutes for small and medium breasts.
Larger chicken breasts will need to cook a few minutes longer). This is what they will look like when you remove the skillet from the oven. Lots of gooey cheese and juices!
Serve The Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Place the chicken onto individual serving plates, and for goodness sake… REMOVE THE TOOTHPICKS!!! (Just sayin’ – no one wants to bite into a toothpick now, do they?) Spoon a bit of the sauce and/or melted cheese over the top of each chicken breast, and SERVE! Doesn’t that look GOOD?
I cut this one in half so you can see what the inside looks like! Pretty sure that you’re gonna like this chicken dish. It is really good!
I hope you will consider trying this wonderful chicken recipe… we really enjoyed it! Have a blessed day, and thank you for stopping by. I hope you will come back again soon.
Looking For More CHICKEN Recipes?
You can find all of my chicken recipes in the Recipe Index, located at the top of the page. I have LOTS of them you will enjoy, including:
- Crunchy Buttermilk Fried Chicken
- Chicken Taco Salad Bowl
- Lemon Rosemary Chicken Breasts
- Chicken Thigh Osso Bucco
Interested In More Recipes?
Thank you for visiting this website. I appreciate you using some of your valuable time to do so. If you’re interested, I publish a newsletter 2 times per month (1st and 15th) with all the latest recipes, and other fun info. I would be honored to have you join our growing list of subscribers, so you never miss a great recipe!
There is a Newsletter subscription box on the top right side (or bottom) of each blog post, depending on the device you use, where you can easily submit your e-mail address (only) to be included in my mailing list.
You Can Also Find Me On Social Media:
Facebook page: The Grateful Girl Cooks!
Pinterest: The Grateful Girl Cooks!
Instagram: jbatthegratefulgirlcooks
Recipe Source: http://www.recipetineats.com/sun-dried-tomato-spinach-cheese-stuffed-chicken-breast/
↓↓ PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW ↓↓
Stuffed chicken breasts, filled with spinach, mozzarella cheese and sun-dried tomatoes are lightly seared, then baked, in this easy dish!
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar (may substitute lemon juice, if desired)
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 small or medium boneless , skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (oil packed), drained and cut into thin strips
- 4 slices mozzarella cheese (2 per chicken breast to cover)
- Handful of fresh baby spinach leaves
- 2 teaspoons olive oil (for pan-searing)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180C).
- Mix Italian "dressing" ingredients in a small bowl until combined.
Slice a pocket in each chicken breast. Cut far into each breast (horizontally), but do not slice all the way through. Cover the chicken breasts inside and out with the Italian "dressing". I used a pastry brush.
- Stuff one half of each piece of chicken with a layer of sun-dried (and drained) tomatoes. Cover tomatoes with mozzarella cheese slices, then cover cheese with baby spinach leaves. Try to get as much of the filling stuffed inside of the chicken as you can. Use toothpicks to hold each piece together. I used 3 toothpicks for each breast, and inserted them through at an angle.
- Heat oil on medium-high in an ovenproof skillet until very hot. Carefully place the chicken breasts into hot skillet. Sear them (without moving them) for 2-3 minutes, then carefully turn over and repeat with other side, until golden brown on both sides.
- Place skillet with chicken into preheated oven. Continue cooking for 15-18 minutes. Larger breasts may take a couple minutes longer (it may also take a bit longer if you are cooking more than 4 breasts at a time).
- Remove from oven. Place chicken onto individual serving plates. REMOVE TOOTHPICKS. Spoon up some of the juices, and melted mozzarella cheese; place on top of chicken. Serve & enjoy!
If you are using really large chicken breasts, you can cut them in half once done, and you will end up with 4 decent sized portions (budget stretcher 101)
Here’s one more to pin on your Pinterest boards!